PoliticalClaims.au

The claim misrepresents what occurred.

The Coalition did not attempt to remove the captioning requirement itself - they attempted to change the *compliance mechanism* from proactive annual reporting to a reactive complaints-based system. **Criticism of the Coalition approach:** - Disability advocates argued removing annual reporting would reduce broadcaster accountability [1][2] - Concerns that quality would decline without systematic monitoring - Deafness Forum Australia noted "it's taken decades for Australian governments to lift the standard of captioning here, so any dilution of these standards will put us even further behind" [1] **Counterpoints:** - The core captioning requirement remained unchanged - broadcasters were still legally required to provide 100% captioning from 6am to midnight - The complaints-based approach is used in other regulatory contexts and can be effective - The deregulation agenda was broad-based across multiple sectors, not specifically targeting disability services - Post-implementation, captioning compliance has remained high - ACMA reports show broadcasters continued meeting obligations [11]